Vehicles include retractable seat belts to retain occupants in seats. The seat belt may include an end fixed to a component of the vehicle, such as a pillar of the vehicle. The other end of the seat belt may be engaged with a retractor that is fixed relative to the seat. A D-ring is mounted to the pillar of the vehicle and supports the seat belt at shoulder level of the occupant.
The position of the D-ring relative to the occupant may affect the operation of the seat belt and, as such, it is desirable to properly position the D-ring relative to the operator. The D-ring may be vertically adjustable along the pillar to accommodate varying shoulder heights of different occupants. For example, the D-ring may be manually adjustable. A mechanical feature may be releasably fixed between the D-ring and the pillar and may be released by the occupant to adjust the D-ring along the pillar.
Occupants may not adjust the position of the D-ring along the pillar. This may be for a variety of reasons, such as, because the D-ring is out of sight of the occupant, because the occupant is unaware that the position of the D-ring affects operation of the seat belt, because the occupant is busy and chooses not to take the time to adjust the D-ring, and/or because the occupant is unaware that a previous occupant changed the position of the D-ring.
Accordingly, there remains an opportunity to develop a system that encourages proper positioning of the D-ring relative to the occupant.